Hey fellow dream livers,

I thought I would write this post and add some pictures and show what kind of damage a little debris can do.

We we had left St. Lawrence south of Sarina in Queensland heading north to eventually get to a house sit in the beautiful Atherton Tablelands at a place called Peeramon just out of Malanda, when we came around a corner on the Bruce Highway about 20klms south of Sarina where we ran over some debris on the road. It looked like pieces off of a truck mudguard or a caravan ( I would guess a truck) as there was plastic and rubber all over the place, and bang smack in the middle was a piece of checker plate about 500mm x 200mm (roughly guessed from sight). Now as we all know it is almost impossible to swerve with the van on the back without any notice. As we passed over this mess I looked in the rear mirrors and did not see the checker plate on the road but everything felt fine and I could see no visible damage so I kept going until we got to Sarina.

The boss wanted to do some shopping so she headed off and to kill some time I thought I would give the van the once over to double check all was well. There was no damage to the running gear or tires e.t.c. I went to open the door and check inside and it stuck a little but opened and all inside was well. When I went to close the door it wouldn't shut no matter how hard I tried. I looked underneath and the piece that comes down from the side and goes under the door and back up to the wheel channel was bent right up to the floor and the timber was shattered and splintered. I managed to get the door shut but not so as I would say it was secured, and we drove on to Bowen for our first house sit on the way to the Tablelands. While driving there my lovely lady Jules rang the insurance company (R.A.C.Q) and explained what was wrong and then she put the phone on hands free so I could translate to the insurance guy. He told us to get a quote locally and mentioned a place in Airlie Beach to get a quote done. Now we used to live in Airlie, that is where we started our life on the road from 2 1/2 years ago and we know this repairer and I would rather spend Christmas with my 90 year old mother in-law while sawing my arms off with a blunt knife than trust this guy to fix my van. He is as straight as a bend in the road, so R.A.C.Q sent us to Townsville where we proceeded to get a quote done.

After a week and a half waiting we went in to the local R.A.C.Q office to see what was happening and ended up talking to a guy in Toowoomba 1300klms away as the local assessor was away on holidays and wouldn't be back until the end of the week. Now don't fall off you chair reading this as I did, but the insurance assessor asked us if we knew how much the repair bill was, we answered that we thought a new door would be needed plus repairs about $3 to $4,000. Get this....$13,000 to $14,000, the quote was to replace the whole side of the van as a fresh crack had appeared above the door. They approved the quote and then we went to take the van in and the guy said next Monday so luckily we found a house sit in Townsville to keep a roof over our heads. I rang him on the Friday to check that Monday was still good and get this.... he forgot to pencil us in the book and had taken on other work. Well fellow travellers, needless to say I was spitting nails and before I could say ffffff...ffff....friggin` fair go mate , I thought, keep your cool mate, work it out. We came to an agreement and it went in on the Tuesday. They got the damage assessment right because when they pulled the side sheeting off the door frame timber was cracked and broken which caused the middle of the van to sag as the structual timber was damaged too. Also the front stabilizer leg was slightly bent therefore unable to lower down.

Our house owners decided to come home a week early, which really helped us but good old R.A.C.Q will pay for a weeks accommodation. We are now on the Tablelands just starting a 2 week house sit, the repairers have had the van for 3 weeks now and still have not finished our van but have promised it will be done by the time we get back.....hopefully.

Our current house owners rang from Cairns airport and said a Typhoon was off the coast of Japan where they were heading and that their flight might be cancelled. This time friggin` hell didn't pass my lips but another 'F' word, but these good folks said if it was cancelled they would come home and repack and do a 2 week road trip, but their flight left ok and they got there fine.....thankfully.

To cut a long story a little shorter, if you run over something on the road, stop and check for damage because you never know what has been done until you check.

Stay safe travellers and keep a spot by the camp fire for me and the missus.

Cheers

Dave & Jules

P.S;

A big thank you to R.A.C.Q Insurance for coming through and getting the van repaired. It is our home and we didn't want to lose her so once again thank you.